A dual closed-loop control system is developed for a dense medium coal washing process. The controller is designed to improve the separation efficiency and energy efficiency of the dense medium cyclone coal beneficiation process simultaneously making use of a model predictive control method and a pumped-storage system (PSS). In the dual-loop control, the outer loop is designed for medium density profile optimization and the inner loop is used for actuator control of the medium supplying circuit, considering the interplay of the energy efficiency and separation efficiency. Mathematical models of the PSS and the magnetite recycle process of the dense medium circuit are developed and employed in the design of the advanced controller. The effectiveness of the designed control system is demonstrated by simulations based on operational data from a South African coal beneficiation plant.
Botha, Stefan; Le Roux, J.D. (Johan Derik); Craig, Ian K.(Elsevier, 2018-07)
A hybrid non-linear model predictive controller (HNMPC) is developed for a run-of-mine ore grinding mill circuit. A continuous-time grinding mill circuit model is presented with a hydrocyclone cluster as the primary ...
Bauer, Margret; Auret, Lidia; Le Roux, Derik; Aharonson, Vered(Elsevier, 2018)
Control loop performance monitoring methods to detect problems in PID loops are developed and tested using industrial data sets. The data is captured from the process, passed on to the researcher who tries out new detection ...
Van Deventer, Francois Johannes(University of Pretoria, 2012-07-19)
The mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an appealing subtropical fresh fruit with a pleasant flavor and taste, high nutritional value, beneficial medicinal properties and various processing options. However, as is the case with ...
